OKLAHOMA CITY – Jordan Farmar walks a fine line each time he peels away his purple-and-gold sweats, jogs to the scorer’s table and checks into a ballgame.

He must be aggressive, but not out of control. He must attempt to force the action, but not go too far. He must look to pass, but also to shoot.

Above all, he must not waste his opportunities because he doesn’t get as many of them as many of his older, more experienced teammates.

Farmar is a member of the Lakers’ second unit, the so-called Bench Mob.

It’s not an easy job, but it’s the only one he has at the moment. He is supremely confident in his ability to deliver the goods for the Lakers.

“I always can make a difference,” he said. “I know my abilities and I know what I can do. It’s just a matter of circumstance and opportunity. I always tell myself my time will come, just be ready and continue to work.

“I’m on a team that has a chance to win a championship and that’s important to me. I’ve been trying to stay as team oriented as possible while trying to keep myself sharp. It’s been tough. I’ve been through a lot of things this year.

“I got injured and went through surgery. I had to fight my way back and I have played up and down. Opportunities have been up and down. It’s just a matter of staying tough and trying to make it happen.”

Farmar, a 22-year-old former UCLA and Taft High of Woodland Hills standout, is averaging modest totals of 7.1 points and 2.5assists in 19 minutes going into tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Ford Center.

They are significant statistics as far as the Lakers as concerned, however. He is, after all, the man asked to give veteran point guard Derek Fisher a rest at least twice a game. The 34-year-old Fisher is averaging 10.4 points and 3.4 assists in 31 minutes.

Farmar and his fellow backups started the season with a bang. They ignited rallies frequently, providing the Lakers with big leads when their starters occasionally failed toprovide the required energy to lift the team at the start or end of games.

Then he injured his left knee and underwent surgery Dec. 24 to repair a torn meniscus. He sat out 17 games, returning to adifferent rotation than the one he left.

Luke Walton had been promoted to the starting lineup as a small forward, replacing Vladimir Radmanovic. Walton later returned tothe bench and Trevor Ariza became a starter.

And there were more changes to come.

Andrew Bynum suffered a torn right knee ligament Jan. 31, and Lamar Odom moved from the bench to the starting lineup. Radmanovic was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for Shannon Brown and Adam Morrison on Feb. 7.

Farmar returned to the active roster Jan.25, scoring 14 points in the Lakers’ victory over the San Antonio Spurs. It seemed all was right with his knee and his game.

In fact, there were a good many missteps just ahead.

His struggles were so pronounced recently that Lakers coach Phil Jackson pulled him aside the other day and delivered a simple message: Be aggressive.

“He’s an attack player,” Jackson said, recalling their conversation. “If he gets tentative and starts passing up shooting opportunities, then that’s tentativeness I don’t like to see. He’s really an attack player. He also needs to be aggressive defensively.”

Farmar took Jackson’s words to heart, responding by scoring 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting in the Lakers’ victory Saturday over the Chicago Bulls. What’s more, he had eightpoints on 3-for-5 shooting during a fourth-quarter rally that carried them to a 117-109 victory on the first game of their seven-game trip.

It was the most he had scored since his Jan. 25 return against the Spurs. It also was the second consecutive game he finished on the floor rather than on the bench, a heartening development for Farmar.

“When you’re on a good team, your margin for error is so small,” said Farmar, a three-year pro whose fourth-year option was picked up by the Lakers last fall.

“Everything gets magnified. You’re just supposed to come in and do everything great. We expect that out of ourselves. We want to come in and play great. But the reality of it is just playing the game, there’s no substitute for experience and being out there.

“Getting out there and getting a sweat, running up and down and getting a chance to get some shots, to play and make a decision and make a mistake and make the right play, let things build and just play basketball is a big step for me.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Clippers and the NBA for the Southern California News Group. He has written about hockey for the past five years and is looking forward to thawing out after so many days and nights sitting in frozen rinks. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.

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